[kepler-dev] Re: [SDM-SPA] javadoc, junit, installer for Windows

[Xiaowen Xin]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the information!

I will definitely look into Java Web Start.

Could you please give me the URL for the free version of
InstallAnywhere?  I have looked and not found a free version other than
an evaluation version, that includes this notice:

Please note: Projects designed with trial versions of InstallAnywhere do
not expire and can be used with licensed versions. However, Installers
built with a trial version of InstallAnywhere will time out after three
days and must be rebuilt at that time.

Must we also get the Mac OS X version of InstallAnywhere in order to
build a OS X version of the installer?

>From Apple's website at:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Java/Conceptual/Java141Development/Deployment_Options/chapter_4_section_3.html

it looks like Mac OS X Application Bundles may also be a good
alternative.

It can be created from the command line or an ant build file (ant is the
build tool used by Kepler & SPA).  The advantage of this is it feels
just like a native Mac OS X Application.  What do you think?


Xiaowen

On Tue, 2004-03-30 at 18:05, Christopher Hylands Brooks wrote:
> BTW - My method of building installers is to create signed jar files
> for the various components and then use these signed jar files in
> WebStart to create one master installation that should in theory work
> for all platforms.
> 
> I then take unsigned versions of the jar files and use these with
> InstallAnywhere.
> 
> The advantage of use WebStart is that it is much faster to
> rebuild a jar and substitute it into the WebStart directories and then
> download just that jar file than it is to rebuild an InstallAnywhere
> Installer, uninstall the old installation, download the possibly huge
> installer and reinstall.
> 
> In principle, the way we create a WebStart configuration is
> conceptually similar to how build.xml probably works, except our jar
> files are listed in a makefile instead of in build.xml(?)  The
> makefile automatically generates the WebStart configurations from the
> jar files listed in $PTII/mk/jnlp.mk
> 
> I have a random collection of notes about WebStart at
> http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII/ptII3.0/ptII3.0.2/doc/webStartHelp.htm
> 
> However, I still need to configure InstallAnywhere by hand.
> The InstallAnywhere file format is XML, so in theory the file
> could be configured by hand.  One issue with InstallAnywhere is that
> it is tricky to create multiple installers.  One can have
> an installer with multiple packages in it (full, docs, examples), 
> but it is tricky to create a smaller installer that has just the
> minimum.
> 
> 
> BTW - We are currently using InstallAnywhere Enterprise. 
> There is InstallAnywhere Standard edition, but it does
> not support USER_MAGIC_FOLDERS, which we needed to set up a shortcut
> folder in 2002.  The details are a bit foggy, but basically I wanted 
> to create
> Start -> Programs -> Ptolemy -> Ptplot 5.2
> instead of
> Start -> Programs -> Ptplot 5.2
> because the Ptolemy project has several different products, and
> it is better if they are grouped together.
> 
> We ended up upgrading to InstallAnywhere Enterprise, which is roughly
> $1500/year for one seat.
> 
> If you can use the free version of InstallAnywhere, then that would be
> great.
> 
> 
> Note that there is also a InstallAnywhere Mac OS X Edition that is
> extra, I'm not sure what it gets you.
> 
> I'm disappointed that NSIS does not support Mac OS, I was going to try
> it out.  Locally, the Ptolemy group has no Mac users, though I do have
> access to a Mac OS X laptop.  I would like to work with Mac OS X users
> on getting Ptolemy II to work better on that platform.  
> 
> There is a list of limitations at
> http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII/ptII3.0/mac.htm
> 
> Ptolemy II requires Java 1.4 or later because we use the java.net.URI
> and Exception chaining.
> 
> JDK 1.2.2 has a bug involving compiling inner classes with protected
> methods.
> 
> The RTOS domain uses java.util.Timer, which is present in JDK 1.3
> and later.
> 
> I don't think Mac OS 9.x has a Java 1.4 installation.
> 
> http://developer.apple.com/java/faq/index.html#gen_5 says:
> >Q: Is there a J2SE release for Mac OS 9 and earlier?
> 
> >A: The latest Mac OS Runtime for Java on Mac OS 9 provided a 1.1.8
> >Java VM. There are no plans to bring any versions of J2SE to Mac OS
> >9. If you are looking to make use of certain extension APIs on Mac OS
> >9, such as Swing, JavaHelp, or the newer Collections API, keep in
> >mind that you can download 1.1.x versions of these libraries from
> >http://java.sun.com.
> 
> I don't have much interest in supporting Mac OS 9.x users, but
> if there were trivial patches necessary to support Ptolemy under MacOS
> 9.x, I would fold them in.
> 
> Xiaowen Xin <xin2 at llnl.gov> writes:
> > I don't have any experience on Mac OS; do you know what kind of package
> > management system it uses?
> 
> I don't know either.  I'd wager that rpm has been ported to Mac OS X.
> rpm is available under Cygwin and Solaris. 
> 
> > Since Mac OS X is a BSD with some modifications, do you think the
> > scientists can be expected to know how to run a shell script?  It
> > should be easy to distribute a shell script (like Sun does with
> > Java) for the Unix users.
> 
> Yes, Mac OS X users could run shell scripts, though that is a little
> bear skins and stone knives.  The advantage of WebStart is that the
> user gets a more modern click-to-install installer, the disadvantage
> is that everything is bundled up in jar files, so it makes it harder
> for WebStart users to extend the system.
> 
> I think that Mac OS X users could certainly handle the
> "./configure; make fast" method of installing Ptolemy II.
> Presumably they could do something similar for installing your
> products.
> 
> At the risk of repeating myself, as I said earlier, I had tried
> InstallShield, and it was not very good.  Maybe it is better now.
> 
> I have some notes from March 19, 2001 about the InstallShield limitations
> http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII/ptII1.0/installshield.htm#bugs
> Currently, regular InstallShield installers from Sun for JDK1.5.0-beta
> hang on my machine for several minutes.  I really cannot recommend
> InstallShield.
> 
> 
> 
> -Christopher